


Demons in Manhatten

by AgentWhite



Category: Marvel 616, X-23 (Comic)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 05:39:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3345578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentWhite/pseuds/AgentWhite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Kinney hears of her previous hauntings returning. A chemical batch, suspect to be a variant of her old Trigger Scent, has reached land in New York. Fearing its spread among the criminal elements of the city, Laura heads out to crush whatever remnants of her conditioning exists in the city. But as always, there is far more to the plots surrounding the Weapon X project than first appears. What will Laura uncover? How long would others attempt to play puppetmaster with her own bloody history?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where the road ends...

The scent of sweat and gasoline hung in the air like a noxious cloud. A barely running gas station like this wasn't Laura's ideal stopping point on the road, especially so close to New York, but she had a promise to keep. Small in the grand scheme of things, but it kept her loved ones from worrying. As she pulled her motorcycle in by the waving attendant, she felt her breathing relax. Her reason for coming to the city and engaging its seedier elements had set a strange tension in her, perhaps so much that even the sight of a smiling teenager trying to build up a little pile was enough to ease it. She set her bike to stand and left the attendant to his business, retreiving her the phone from her pocket. At the nervous behest of the boy filling up her bike, Laura moved just off the site of the station, silently musing on whether the minute electric charge of the old phone could in fact detonate the entire site. On the other side of the road, she punched in the numbers. Her lips curled into a short smile as soon as the cajun's voice, tinny through the call, reached her ears.

“Oui, ma chere?”

“Hello Gambit.” she began.

His sudden burst of joy almost had her throw the phone away in shock. “It's good to hear from you! You in New York?”

“A Gas Station about 3 or 4 miles out. You asked me to call once I was here.”

“Ahh, I remember. I have an address for you to go to. You gotta pen an' paper?”

“I can memorise it” Laura replied, dry as ever, 

“Alright. There's an apartment complex on Jackson Street, 'n Queen's. Head into number 14, secon' floor. Consider it yours as long as ya need it.”

Laura's words got lost somewhere between her brain and mouth.

“Laura? You hear me?”

“Yes, I...You... are sure?” Her response came out stuttered. A rarity Remy wouldn't forget soon.

“Of course Petite, least I can do.” Her composure returned, hearing the cajun sound so relaxed.

“Not to complain, but not many people would give away an apartment at a moments notice.”

“Most people don' have an extra to give.” She couldn't argue, having barely a backpack's worth of things to her name. “Most people also ain' mutants, but that's neither here nor there.”

“Funny.”

A slight grunt came through the phone. “Your voice says one thing but I'm guessin' your face says another.”

Laura's free hand massaged her temple, running into her hair. “Forgive my mood, this is hardly a vacational trip.”

“Oui, nasty business you're getting yourself involved in.” He sounded reserved. She dreaded what he might say. Thankfully he knew how she ticked. “You sure you don' need me there?”

“Anything involving the trigger scent is my business, and I am perfectly capable of crushing this operation before it even develops. I just need someone to know where I am in case the worst happens, Gambit.” Quick and harsh rebuttal. She grimaced at her own lack of tact and getting defensive, but she knew there was little point in hiding her frustration, especially around Remy. That and she had done nothing but think on the subject since she'd started riding. The cajun merely let out a sigh.

“Very well. By the way, Petite, you could stand to start using my name one of these days.”

Laura mustered a chuckle, despite herself. “This coming from you is rather rich.”

“Haa, sad but true. Still, you'll come around. Make yourself at home when you get there, that place could do with someone actually livin' in it.”

Laura nodded, her small smile returning. “Alright, I'll let you know what I turn up.”

“Au revoir.” The cajun finished as she hung up. Remy LeBeau was nothing if not an endlessly patient and understanding friend, a comforting thought to Laura as she returned to her bike to pay the eagerly waiting attendant. Wishing him luck, she set off once more.   
  
It wasn't long until the legendary skyscrapers of New York rose over the horizon to welcome her into the city. To most people, the site of these shining pinnacles of human achievement might seem inspiring and fulfilling. Laura however had heard tell of the people inside those buildings, the corrupt and criminal amidst the honest wage slaves. Somewhere in that shining city was her quarry. That someone had, fortunately for her, slipped up. The X-men had received a tip through S.H.I.E.L.D: A batch of strange chemicals had recently made land in New York. Through a stray sample an inside man had procured at great personal risk, Hank McCoy had managed to determine it as a strain of Trigger Scent. This concoction, aside from sending Laura into an absolute berserker rage, had last surfaced in Paris. Here it was able to do the same towards ordinary civilians, people who had not been conditioned to kill at the slightest whiff of the stuff. The thought of it unchecked in Manhattan island, let alone greater New York, left a twist in Laura's stomach. How anyone else couldn't react like that astounded her, but she had opted tackle this threat alone. Her personal demon should not be allowed to harm anyone else. But she had to find somewhere to start, and by the sound of it, Remy's apartment would be her base to begin.

 

***

 

Though it was hardly the most high-class of complexes, Laura's eyes seemed to want to take in every detail of the place. As she ascended the stairs, the building and its tenants immediately made its mark on her senses. The variety of food she could smell, peppers, bacon, six different kinds of cheeses, slow-roasted beef, lightly fried tofu, even the faint hint of coffee hinting at a delicious tiramisu baking amidst the wild array of flavour in her nostrils. The perks of having heightened senses trained by a laboratory of obsessive psychopaths. Though her ears also flared with the noises of life in every domicile. A number of arguments in progress up the way, riotous laughter from a group and a couple of single people in front of their televisions, rhythmic noises of... exertion a couple of floors above, and the hushed voice of a pair of kids hiding something from one of their mothers. Laura breathed slow as she tuned the excess out, content to intrude merely on the contents of the buildings collective dinner.

She reached the door of the apartment. Number 14. Though she twisted the door handle, it refused to open. _Locked_ she mused. _Of course it's locked. Then where is the ke-_

She cut off her own thoughts. Looking down beside the door was a rock. On the carpet. Surrounded by no other rocks. 

“No. That would just be...” She overturned it, and sure enough, underneath was a spare key. It slid into the lock and turned without problem. Laura shook her head. “How has he not been broken into by this point?”

The door open with a slow creak, revealing the lightly outfitted apartment. The living space itself seemed based around a single room, the bedroom and bathroom behind another door at the back. A single, long bar seperated the kitchen from the centre, with a couple of chairs, decent leather couch, and a television far too big for an apartment that's barely lived in. Her stomach having forgotten the knot in it thanks to the intoxicating aroma of food, Laura dumped her pack on the couch and made for the fridge. All that greeted her was an empty, cold space.

“Make myself at home, so long as food is not involved, evidently.”

“Remy's here maybe a week a year at most, I don't think his priority is stocking the fridge.”

The stranger's voice set Laura vaulting across the counter, her claws slid from her wrists before her feet had touched the ground. By the time she could process thought before instinct she was already halfway to the doorframe, seeing the figure shutting the door behind them. In a breath, Laura slowed and stood firm. The intruding woman was no bigger than her, but broader in the shoulders and far more well dressed in a simple suit. Upon noticing her face, Laura retracted her claws, recognising her instantly from talks at the school. Jen Walters crossed her arms at the youth, a smirk across her lips.

“He called ahead and told me you were coming, if you were wondering.” Jen began.

Laura already felt her space encroached upon. “He asked you to look after me?”

“No, not really, just that you'd be in the area solo, and you might need a hand settling in.” Laura made an attempt to protest but was instantly waved down by the attorney. “I don't doubt you can kick the requisite keister to get the job done honey, and neither does Remy. He actually asked me to sort you out some extra money for you-” Laura was instantly lost. What intentions did Jen think she had here? “-so I've gone ahead and gotten you a little runners position at my office. Easy job, decent pay, enough for you to get that fridge stocked.”

Laura sucked air through her teeth, searching for the most tactful way to address this. “Jennifer, I'm not sure what assumption you are under, but I am not here to make a living, there are some very dangerous people in this city I need to stop.”

Jen's face froze in the half-smile she'd been sporting her entire spiel. “Ah.”

“What?”

“I think Remy's telling us both half a story here, Laura.” Laura merely nodded quizzically, bidding her to continue. Jen's hands found her chin as she attempted to convey another persons thoughts delicately. “He wants you out of the nest. Not to kick you out or anything but just to give you that extra lease, responsibility, whatever.”

“Yet he did not deign to tell me this...” The young woman made no attempt to hide her dismay.

“We'll work it out.” Jen placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. Laura fought her instinct to retreat from the touch. “Tomorrow, show up at this address in your smartest digs, and you and me will go from there, alright?”

“Are these clothes sufficient?” Laura stood back and motioned at her body. Jen looked at the youth in the midriff-baring white shirt, with matching leather jacket and pants and knee-high biker boots as though Laura had spent an hour explaining how squares had three sides.

“Uh, nooooooo, 'fraid not hon. Like a button-up shirt, blazer?” she said, flapping her lapels.

“Tie?”

“Sure, that kinda thing.”

“I dislike ties.”

“Alright, alright.” Jen sighed at her little problem child of the moment. “Do you own _anything_ like that?”

Somewhat sheepishly, Laura pointed at her bag. Brows held high, Jen walked over and shook the packs contents onto the couch. All that Laura had with her was her old X-Force uniform (thinking the darker colour would help during night-time investigation), a spare top and pair of pants (Again, midriff-baring to Jen's annoyance), a spare set of underwear, a gas mask, an NYC map, A roll of $20 bills, and a bottle of hot sauce.

“Seriously?” Jen said, looking her young friend straight in the eye. All Laura could do was shrug. The attorney held the bridge of her nose, dishevelling her glasses. She continued as she readjusted them. “Just... just turn up tomorrow and I'll have all that covered, okay? And if you talk to Remy in the space between now and when I've pummeled him into some sidewalk, let him know that whatever I owe him now, it's settled.”

“I am sorry he's put you in that position.” She said humbly, keeping mum on the topic of what exactly Jen owed him.

“It's not your fault, Laura. I just wish that Gumbo would tell everyone the whole story sometimes. See you tomorrow.”

The attorney made for the door and left with a wave behind her. As Laura pushed the door closed, she could hear the faintest angry muttering proceed down the corridor, convinced she saw a flash of green before ensuring the door was locked. Laura hopped across the couch and sank into the middle, grabbing the map from her small pile of belongings. She spread it across the table, scanning for the small marks she'd noted on it. Places she had been recommended to start looking.

_Gambit need not have worried._ Laura rans her palms across the paper, flattening every possible crease. _I have places to start. Clinton, otherwise known as “Hell's Kitchen”._ _There are more than a few corrupt drug runners and criminal rings there. Someone can point me deeper into New York's underbelly._

Laura took in every detail she could, memorising her route into the legendarily slimy district of the Big Easy. Shrugging off her jacket, she grabbed her 'work-clothes'. “Hopefully I'll find the answers there.”

 


	2. ...the hunt begins

Darkness had settled in on the streets of Hell's Kitchen, the only illumination being the streetlamps that hadn't blown a fuse, and the occasional dull glow of some poor sap on their phone. One of these saps was about to have a vastly more unpleasant night. As he walked past an open alley, laughing quietly to himself about some comment of his friends, he felt a hand grasp the front of his hoodie. In the next second, he was swung around and pinned to the wall with a scream, his phone slipping from his grip and skittering across the concrete. Now inches from his face was the stony face of X-23, the claws on her left hand gleaming in what little light there was.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"I have questions for you." The young mutant asked calmly

"And I got answers, oh, I got answers, I got money, I got anything you want, I am way to damn sober for this Wolverine shit." The boy couldn't seem to get his words out fast enough.

"Dealers. Where are they? Where do you get your fix?"

"My fix?" The sleight against him seemed to give the guy an astonishing burst of courage, as he pulled up his sleeve revealing a tattoo. A simple X embellished very slightly. "I've been straight-edge for 4 years, bitch, so why don't you go f-"

_~snikt~_

"-f-f-find yourself someone else to interrogate, I'm not... I'm not your guy, all my old contacts are either dead or in jail, I swear to you. I  _swear_."

He was being earnest, no reason for him to lie with this much pressure put on him. "Fine."

Laura sheathed her claws, as the young man slid down the wall in shock. Laura walked down towards the dead end of the alley as the poor fellow regained his courage and scrambled to his feet, making to grab his phone. Laura heard him groan at the now shattered screen, but by the time he had turned to throw obscenities in her direction, she was already on the rooftops. Looking out across the block, she can scarce see another source of information besides a few streetwalkers, and some groups of people looking no more suspicious than the last man she'd accosted. She closes her eyes as she sat on a ventilation unit, processing her next move

"You need to pick your squealers better."

"Hmm?" Laura had heard her guest approach, her response was not nearly as aggressive as Jennifer Walters appearing in the apartment. Though she still opened her eyes and steeled her legs ready to launch towards the gruff sounding stranger. Though her eyes confirmed he was friendly, or at least as friendly as one could find in Hell's Kitchen. There stood Daredevil, arms crossed and expression unreadable.

"I heard the scream 4 blocks over. Never thought I'd catch one of Wolverine's type in my neck of the woods."

"Neither did he." She quickly reaffirmed her business in the district, pressing him with little pause. "Do you know where I could find someone very deep in the drug rings of this city?" The red-leather clad hero's head dipped slightly. Disappointment?

"Beating on dealers might feel good, but it isn't going to stop their providers."

Laura grunted in dismay, not in the mood to hear a misguided lecture. "That is not why I'm here. Something dangerous is about to explode onto your turf. If they know anything, then I need that information."

"You're sure?" Her companion replied after a thoughtful pause.

"I am not willing to risk it, even were I not." Laura answered immediately. The man in red seemed to be thinking again, pacing towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Xavier's been keeping the resolve of the mutants very strong then." He turned his head slightly to her, keeping on walking towards the edge. "Should I turn up anything, I will find you. That's all I can give you." and without another word, Daredevil leapt from the roof, and was out of sight.

"Very well. I appreciate it." Laura muttered to herself.  _He knew about the X-men. and could tell I was mutant. Strange man._ She thought, as she headed to the opposite edge.  _No reason to stop now. I need to find a way in._ She hopped across to the next roof, and began to run. Even in the low-light, her eyesight was impeccably sharp, and looking down on the street she could assess more potential 'squealers'.

Another man in a hoodie, walking casually but quickly. Didn't want to get caught in any crossfire that might happen, just wanted to get home. A couple, unabashedly laughing and walking hand in hand. Confident and happy. She had no right to ruin their evening. A number of people gathered outside a bar, drinks in hand with the low rumble of the bass obscuring their discussions from Laura's ears. Even so, too many to not cause a scene. She kept on running. Upon her landing at the next roof, a sudden pain shot through her middle. Silencing her gasp, Laura slowed and from her back, she managed to pull a small syringe, no bigger than a thumbtack. It fell from her looser grip, perplexing the young mutant for a moment.

 _Drugs... Sedatives? I can feel it already_.

In her moment of clarity, she was struck by three more darts. Wasting no time she brushed them away and found cover by a skylight. Stealing peeks quickly from her hiding spot, she could see an obscured figure on high.  _Need to bait his fire._ She stood a fraction slower than she normally would, before speeding into a roll. She heard the dart rip the air as she rose, grabbing a piece of sheet metal and flinging it like a disc towards her assailant. The clangs of metal against metal confirmed the piece was deflecting more darts, and the assailant was forced to leap down to her level. Closer to her now, she recognised the threat: Bullseye. Not wasting a moment to be cocky, he span, sending out more waves of darts. He'd managed to plant several in Laura's skin despite her best effort. She felt her frame begin to get heavier. 

"You ought to be feeling some what sluggish now pet, so why not let it take you so I can get paid?" The sinister marksman crooned. She kept up her guard, but he was right. He'd managed to stick her with enough needles that the dosage was beginning to take its toll. 

This did not discourage her. Laura leapt, claws extended, though Bullseye took advantage of her given course to peg her with more syringes. The gap between them was now closed, and Laura took several swipes at the masked man. Her lagged perception caused her to fall short of the mark, her vision blurred enough to allow Bullseye to dodge. She dropped to a press on her hands and wheeled around with a kick, extending her third claw concealed in her foot. The surprise factor was enough to secure the hit, opening a gash on Bullseyes leg. He screamed in pain, flailing to avoid falling and with a few gestures threw yet more needles.  The sedative had now reached a level in her system where Laura began to feel the tug on her conscientiousness. 

She attempted another swipe at the wounded man. Unfortunately Bullseye picked up his second wind, managing to catch the slowed mutants blow and twist her arm away harmlessly. A hard punch in the stomach knocked the wind out of Laura, throwing her onto her back. With no wasted second, the marksman withdrew a more prominent needle from his belt and drove it into her leg. Laura focused her thoughts as her grip of reality fell away. _You know what to face when you wake up. Work the wound. He will not run far._

"Nighty-night~" were the last words she heard before she succumbed to darkness.

 

***

 

Laura's consciousness returned before her sight did. Her upper body still felt numbed,  Still in darkness, she made the slightest effort to move. She was restrained against a wall, someone was fumbling with something around her foot. Her boots were gone. _Smart, keeping me held back._ With a stiff movement, she felt the slightest give in her binding. She could doubtless break free with some ease, but right now she was at a disadvantage. She focused, honing her hearing on the two people talking.

"She caught my leg good, I'm still bleeding."

"Suck it up, Lester"

"I ain't gonna enjoy my payment if I bleed out on your damn floor!"

"Then shut up and survive it."

"Goddamnit...." her assailant muttered. The other voice began to boom.

"Get that foot bracer affixed!"

"It's hard getting the angle here boss!" Something was happening. Laura felt something sharp graze her ankle. _Enough_. She extended her foot claws, shocking the thug at her feet into dropping whatever he held with a loud clanging. This was enough to get his bosses attention. 

"She's... waking up. I thought you stuck her with more than enough sedative?"

"Yeah, enough to drop Rhino. I also told you she'll be awake before long, with that healing factor of hers."  _They know who I am, and how to fight me,_ Laura thought, still trying to process an escape plan.  _  
_

"Perfect... well we were going to have to handle this sooner or later."

Laura opened her eyes, but still the room was cloaked in darkness. Shifted her face slightly, she felt the slight resistance of fabric on her skin. Blindfolded. Though she knew doubtless there were at least three men in the room; Bullseye, his boss, and a third, presumably unimportant thug. The room sounded open, but no machinery filled the background, just the voices of her captors were able to echo freely in the space. So a warehouse. Easily defensible but also to escape from. Confident for the moment, Laura addressed the boss.

"Release me." Her defiance was met with a simple laugh.

"The hunter never lets good prey escape, especially from one of his more well spun traps."

"Release me now, and I will not kill you."

"You're in a horrible position to be bargaining right now, Laura." She felt the skin on her face tighten.

"You know my name." 

"I do. The legacy of Weapon X is bloody, distinctive and _very_ well documented." The mans voice resonated deeply in the room, and he seemed to enjoy hearing it. Everything about him set of markers in Laura's head. The scent of expensive food accompanied his breath, with the staleness of cigar smoke, not the high-end cuban the would usually enjoy. Heavy steps as he moved towards the captive mutant and continued. "Your trigger scent, your relation to the mutant Wolverine. A number of factors that make you decidedly more lucrative than you'd appear."

"You're manufacturing the scent..." Laura tried to get something to go off of.

"It would certainly look that way, yes." A noncommittal reply, but enough to tell Laura this was the person she was after.

"Then you needed a test subject? Is that it?"

"Heh. Nothing so simple, my dear girl." he seemed to have caught on. He shut up quickly enough, leaving nothing but empty air for what seemed like minutes. She heard the shuffle in his clothes as he turned to one of his lackeys. "Do we have her?" Laura heard no noise. The response seemed to be positive though, as the deep-voiced man gave another irritating chuckle. "Kill her. We're done here."

A heavy sound concussed the air around her. It was the last sound that Laura could comprehend, in the next second her nerves were overloaded with pain. Electricity coursed through her body, causing her to throw all her strength against her restraints. Sure enough they snapped. But the connection wasn't broken, as Laura was still convulsing in agony. She felt a tug at her head, reaching toward it she felt two long prongs, breaching her skull. With a cry of effort and pain, she wrenched the electrodes from her head, ending the electrical nightmare. Panting, out of breath and energy, Laura collapsed to the floor. She took her breaths slowly, unable to process a lot around her thanks to the recent intrusion in her brain being forcibly ejected. She pulled the blindfold off, finally feeling her healing factor knit the contusion in her head back to normal. 

Looking around, the warehouse seemed plain. As though nobody had been hear in a decade. the floor was littered with shattered glass, fallen from the lights once the electrical current in the building had surged into Laura's body. Faint tracks indicated equipment had been moved, but little else. Forcing herself to her feet, Laura felt her head. Her hair was matted with blood, still bleeding faintly from the reducing holes in her head. 

 _Strange to think, but that sedative is appreciated right now._ This was the most lucid thought she could put together right now. Feeling a strange weight at her wrist, she inspected what she thought to be her restraints. They appeared to be one smooth piece of metal, flush against her skin. She attempted to use her claws to slice them free, but upon flexing the muscle to release them, an intense pain overwrote the numbness of the drugs in her and only another flash of pain confirmed her effort. Whatever these bracers were, they had robbed her of her claws.  _Even if they had failed to kill me, they had an insurance policy._

Laura's stoicism faltered for a fraction, before she caught herself she bellowed a roar from the pit of her stomach. Anguish, pain, confusion, rage, everything broke in that single moment. She held her head as the scream echoed impotently around her. Fueling herself on that, she pushed herself forward. Avoiding the broken glass on her still-bare feet, she found her boots left in a corner. Casually discarded from her once they proceeded fitting the restraints. Anger beginning to plateau and subside, she reached for them and made to leave, hoping everyone at home was already indoors.

 

***

 

The door to the apartment fell open at Laura's touch. She was unused to locking doors, it would be something she would have to make a note of. For now she closed the door behind her and slumped against it. Her thoughts progressed slowly.   _They knew how to hurt me. Maybe kill me, had I given them the chance. It feels like there are fingers in my brain._ She pushed herself to her feet, moving towards the kitchen counter. Looking down at her clothes, still covered with blood, she gave a deep sigh as she pulled them off, tossing them into the basin as she filled it with water.

 _The sedative's still in my blood._   She mused. _Numbs the extra pain at least._

The blood on her uniform began to flow free of the latex-like material in the warm water. Leaving them for a soak, Laura rounded the counter, making for the bathroom. The top of her head was now merely sticky with blood rather than dripping with it. 

_This was already personal. Now they have taken it further. There has to be something more to this._

Laura twisted the faucet until the showerhead was spraying hot water. She shuffled out of the last of her effects before stepping under the flow of water. She was used to a state of undress, it came from living another life. But here, now, it gave her no comfort. Vulnerable. Unprepared. Her arrival in New York had been anticipated. No, it had been planned. And all she had to go on was a voice and a pair of metal restraints that kept her best weapon away from her. The night had been long and cruel, but as the blood began to pool in the base of the bathtub, her will to stop this strengthened tenfold.

There was nowhere in the city this man could hide. Not from Laura Kinney.  


	3. People work the day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this addition took so long!! Kinda fell by the wayside as life happened all around me. 
> 
> But! The next addition will add a couple of characters to the mix and move the mystery along some, as well as open up some character interaction I've been wanted to write for quiiiiite some time now.

Dull uninteresting music and air staled and sterile from low-brand cleaning agents were Laura's only companions on her slow rise to meet her unexpected new employer. Her nerves still raw from the previous nights events, she found this place, even drastically out of her element as she was, relatively calming. Finally, she reached her floor, beating the tone out the door. She glanced along every door she passed, until finding her name: "Walters". Laura rapped her fist against the door. 

The slight face of Jen Walters appeared from the opening door, but the cheeriness of her face instantly faltered at the sight of the young mutant. Laura felt herself flush in confusion. "Am I late?"

"I... well no, but you look like you got dragged through a hedge backwards. By a bulldozer." Surely referred to her disheveled hair and the slight remnant of an electrical burn creeping from under Laura's hairline. Evidently her healing factor had prioritised the internal damage.

"I had an... altercation. It is little trouble." 

Jen's left eyebrow raised. She didn't buy it. "Uh-huh. Sure. Get in here." 

Jen grasped her arm and pulled Laura in. The office of Jennifer Walters matched it's occupant spectacularly. Well kept and polished, but with the odd element of wildness. A typical deck cactus in this office was a small gaggles on the green needly nubs, with a couple of leafier plants amidst them for... colour? Laura couldn't begin to guess. In the flash that Jen's desk drawer was open, she glimpsed the menagerie of oddments within as a large clear packet was withdrawn. 

"Here less than a day and trouble's already found you?" The attorney began, thrusting the packet at Laura.

"Well, in all fairness, I did go looking for it." Laura answered, in an attempt to shrug off the concern. She took the packet. "Are these the clothes?"

"Yeah, change into them when you can. And changing tact like that doesn't work with me, I want to know what got you beat up for your first day of work."

Laura paused, before she shrugged off her jacket. "We received a tip that trigger scent was beginning to get circulated in the Manhattan underground." After ripping open the new pack of clothes, Laura pulled her top over her shoulders. 

Jen chose to busy herself in her copy of the Bugle with a mutter of "Oh for the love of-". Laura continued regardless.

"I believe I found the manufacturer, but I was unable to identify him." She closed her eyes, separating her thoughts from last nights pain. "Large, strong smell of aftershave, tobacco, enjoys fine food. High quality lifestyle on the criminal dime." 

"I really should have found you something in a detective agency." Jen mentioned, still buried in the Bugle. 

"They had captured me, conducted some sort of scan, tried to leave me for dead. And... apparently as a backup, gave me these." As she did up the topmost button on her new white shirt, she flashed her steely new additions from her sleeves. Jen folded her Bugle, and grabbed the bracers, running her hands across them. Laura winced at the minute movements in the metal she could feel. 

"Lemme guess, Amazonian? Forged by Hephaestus himself?"

"I beg your pardon?" The youth was completely lost. Jen just shook her head.

"Never mind. So aside from a fashion statement, what are they?"

"I am clueless. But I cannot extend my claws with these, and they seem irremovable."

Jen finally let go of the strange gauntlets. "Hmm... strange. We need to get those looked at, there's no telling what you've got strapped to you there." She looked up and down Laura, checking her form, before undoing a couple of buttons on the youths shirt to give her a neckline rather than a collar. Smiling, she led for the door. 

"Then we will make our way quickly."

"Noooooo we won't, we've got days worth of clients to deal with." Jen held the door for her new colleague. "Get your ass in gear Laura, time to start earning the green."

*** 

The meniality of the days work was a bizarre new sensation to Laura. Filing papers, running for coffee, aiding Jen's meetings... all things that were the humdrum and routine to countless others in the world. Whilst she had experienced boredom before, it was nothing like this. The mention of conducting an interview with a potential client, one almost guaranteed to go down, became more lucrative a prospect than the answers she'd come to this city for. And before she knew it, her and Jen were sat in a dimly lit room, opposite their potential clientele. A short man, ginger 5 o'clock shadow matching the length of his buzzed hair. The face of a thug, but right now he appeared wrapped up in his own thoughts. Not the crying mess or smug coolness of a guilty man. 

Jen was the the pinnacle of professional from the off. "So, uh... Buzzer, was it?"

The mans eyes darted to his potential attorney, as a slight smile. "Yehyeh, that's uh... that's my handle. I got a condition, mutation, whatever, lets me zap anyone I touch."

Laura became tense. _Electrical discharge? No..._ Her skull throbbed in phantom pain at the mere possibility of it. 

"Well, points for originality. Says here they caught you robbing a Jewellers down by Central Park." Jen continued without a blip.

Buzzer immediately became talkative. "I didn't do it! I got set up!" Laura listened intently, trying to pick up everything in his voice. _There was a third man in the room. Maybe a fourth. No sign of machinery that caused that kind of power... it is possible._

Jen opened the floor. "So tell me what happened." Buzzer shuffled in his seat, clearing his throat. Laura leaned in, unaware of her increasingly intense stare. 

"Alright alright, I was walking down through central park after work, like I do when I'm off early. I go past the Jewellery store as the sun sets and I see the owner walking away, like he just locked up. Once I get there, I-I can see a shadow inside." Laura heard the stammer. The fraction his heart went faster. "A robber! So I ducked into an alley nearby and put on my mask to go get the bastard." Laura scoffed at the mention of the mask before she could stop herself. Jen and Buzzer shot her glares. 

"Go on." prodded the attorney, moving past Laura's outburst.

"Well... the security system hadn't gone off inside, so I fried the circuits from the outside before bursting in the door, didn't want to alert him and have him scarper before I'd blocked the door, y'know? I yelled at the guys to stop, but he pulled a gun on me." Laura propped up her chin with her hand. "I went in anyway, guy was a lousy shot, so a grabbed his arm and zapped him. Turned out that was enough to set off all the rounds in his handgun at once and the thing exploded. I was out cold until cops got there and arrested me."

Laura closed her eyes, focusing her senses. Jen meanwhile continued the inquiry. "and the original burglar?"

The shaved man shrugged. "Gone. Must've came to first and left the Jewellers before the cops got there. And I know the cops found the handgun, so someone had to be there."

"Just the magazine, but yes, point still holds-"

Laura stood from her seat fixing her eyes on the recoiling figure opposite her. "You are a horrible liar, Mister Buzzer."

"S'cuse me?" the meta-human replied, attempting to process the name Laura had gone with.

"Every time you mention the Jewellers, you rub that ring on your finger." Jen's eyes quickly began darting between Buzzer's various effects. "There is no smell on you of gunpowder ignition or burn, not even the faintest blemish on your skin that would suggest a close-proximity sidearm misfire." The man sat utterly befuddled in his seat, shaking his head. Laura leaned forward, resting her knuckles on the table, her voice becoming a growl. "You will start talking truth right now, or I will be the one you have to worry about getting angry."

"Smell? Who made you an expert all of a sudden? Who the hell even are you, I thought I was getting a defense from She-Hulk!? What kinda gun-nuts is your firm hiring?!" Buzzer exclaimed, wildly pointing fingers at Laura's accusatory glare. She smiled. _Just admit it. Just admit you were there last night_

Jen straighted herself and kept cool as ever, "She's young, but her senses are sharp. I'll trust that much in her, even if her sense of subtlety is garnered too much from her father." The aside glance Laura received from Jen was something she would instantly rebuke any other time, but she needed an outright answer from the recoiling man. "The ring. Tell me the story." Buzzer looked hopelessly between the two. With a great sigh, he gave in, eyes focused on his latticed fingers. 

"I... alright, I brought this ring from that Jewellers. Proposed to my wife with it. Now I'm still paying for the damn thing. That's why I went to stop the guy, I didn't want to owner to hoick up what I owed him thanks to some punk robbing him."

Laura was shocking that it was something so simple. "And the exploding gun?" 

"I err... Well, I heard a bang, after I grabbed him, then I was out cold."

"So you lied." Laura pressed without pause.

Buzzer grew steadily more agitated. "Look it's what my brain put together alright! I- He could've just shot into the air and smacked me with the gun, I don't know, I was out when the cops found me. I didn't just drop unconscious of my own goddamn accord did I!?"

"You are a waste of time." Laura's own frustration at not hearing what she wanted to overtook her, and she turned on her heel for the door. No sooner had she closed it behind her she heard Jen hurridly set down her papers and pursue.

"Laura, what the hell is up with you?"

"He keeps lying. Surely you can see that?" Laura spun back at her, no longer restraining her ire.

"And your proof here is?" Jen said simply, crossed her arms as she awaited an answer.

"He could have knocked himself out." came the teen's first thought.

"Takes way more effort than you think."

"He is nervous and erratic." her second sounded much more reinforcing.

"He's being accused of armed robbery, of course he's jittery!"

"He _smells_ wrong..."

Jen threw her arms up in the air, her voice finally raising. "Completely inadmissable as evidence!"

The emerald eyes of both ladies locked on each others, each fierce and unyielding. As though to cover for it's owner not revealing all she had to, Laura's stomach growling loudly broke the silence in the corridor.

"When did you last eat?"

"Two days ago." Laura said somewhat sheepishly. Jen sighed.

"Get out of here. Go grab a bite and keep busy in the office, I'll... fix this."

"I want to hear the truth from him."

"and you will." The attorney's voice grew stern again.

"And what about these?" Laura pressed, pulling the her sleeves away to reveal the flawless plates of metal around her wrists. 

"I'll give someone a call when I can to investigate it. Now, GO."

The young mutant's fist clenched, not moving an inch. Jennifer's skin, even in the low light, was beginning to run an unmistakable shade of green.

"Do I need to repeat myself?"

 

Laura could've slapped her for talking to her like a child. That however would likely have made things worse. She relented, turning and making her way towards the stale elevator once more. Thought she couldn't resist letting one envenomed word fly, that she threw over her shoulder as Jen made to return to her questioning:

"I've pulled out your cousins eyes."

***

The sky above Manhattan between the silvery sheen of skyscrapers grew redder with each minute, Laura gazing at its hue, propped up on her motorcycle outside the office. It'd been several hours since her last bit of work was done, a few files sorted and organised, and all the while Jen Walters had stayed with the suspect Buzzer, hopefully resolving the great deal of confusion surrounding his case. 

Finally, a familiar set of high-heeled footsteps resonated in Laura's ears, finding themselves accompanying thee young woman as Jen greeted her smiling.

"What is the verdict?" Laura asked immediately.

"Buzzer isn't being charged. Not enough evidence against him, plus the Security Cams from the store proved he did go for the actual robber." Jen hoped her positive outlook would rub off some on the sulking mutant, but Laura's continued uneasy stare at the floor proved her wrong. "I'm sorry, not good enough for you?"

Laura wished she could bring herself to tell all of her suspicions, but without foundation she couldn't confirm or deny his involvement. "There is more to it." She curtly put it.

"What can you possibly be taking issue with here? We've got footage that corroborates his story." Laura stayed silent, processing a thousand ways to try and respond as every word fell silent in her throat. The green-eyed lawyer sighed, though not of exhaustion or irritation, but empathy. She rounded Laura and rested her backside against the bikes fuel tank, trying to make more polite eye-contact than their last staredown.

"Laura, I get it. You're used to dealing with stuff that's so much bigger than this. Trust me, I've read all the reports. You knocked hell on earth back into the hole it crawled out of, but stuff like this... sometimes it's so much simpler than you think it is. You've been trained to see demons and enemies in everything."

Laura shuddered at the mention of the events that had transpired in Las Vegas. _Demons... Enemies..._ her thoughts flitted to the forced, stretched smile and unnerving cheer of the antitheses of herself spawned from that hellish mess, and what she was in comparison. _Trained..._ Swallowing her doubts, she finally spoke "I am not nearly the slave to my past you think I am."

"Hey, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Just remember you've downsized." Laura nodded, finally meeting her eyes. No smile, but it was a step up from earlier. "Oh, and I've made some calls. Someone will get back to me to try and help your little... accessory problem."

The effort warmed Laura considerably, as she strapped on her helmet. "Thank you Jennifer. See you tomorrow."

With a few twists of the throttle, the mass of metal and carbon beneath Laura roared to life. Thought the blast of sound overloaded her senses in the one moment, she always savoured that slight thrill from the engine. Jen backed up and waved, smirking at the young woman. Rolling into the evening traffic, Laura made her way. 

As she rode through the streets, she forced herself to assess everything she knew. The man known as Bullseye, a rich man operating from a run-down warehouse, a lot of pain and electricity, and at the heart of it all: Her trigger scent. She was still no closer to finding her answers. But Bullseye, though wounded, was always for hire. A weakness she could use to tear and rip away the veil shielding her from the sinister machinations of Manhatten's criminal underbelly. 

Though in a flash, Laura felt her weight fall sideways, faint and unfocused, her body shaking mildly. forcing her to quickly pull the bike beneath her and swerve between lanes. As her path straightened amidst the blaring horns of a half-dozen drivers, she realises had neglected herself again. Thus her first destination was secured:

Food.


End file.
